CHEERFUL GIVERS GET THE BEST OF REAL-LIFE GRINCH

San Diego 
A real-life Grinch might have stolen hundreds of dollars, but he couldn’t spoil the spirit of holiday giving.

Two weeks after a thief snatched cash from a children’s hospital donation fund, more donors have opened their pocketbooks to make up the difference.

On Thursday, Ron Komendera, the man who started the fund, presented Rady Children’s Hospital with more checks, bringing his donation total to $3,200.

Komendera and his wife have been collecting donations for the hospital for four years in front of the mega-Christmas light display at their home on Cienega Drive in Bonita. Strangers and neighbors leave their checks or cash in a plastic tub affixed to the mailbox.

Komendera, 76, noticed the jar had been emptied sometime in the middle of their Grand Lighting Party on Dec. 8. He estimated losing $500 to $1,000. The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the theft.

U-T San Diego wrote about the theft, followed by television news reports.

“A day or so later, I started getting telephone calls,” Komendera said. One woman from Chicago heard about the story and sent a $1,000 check.

A metal fabricator also pitched in, creating a heavy-duty, locked donation box now welded on the mailbox.

“There are still some great people on this earth,” Komendera said Thursday.

The display of 36,000 lights choreographed to music will remain up and donations will be accepted through New Year’s Eve.